Awd Simmon Beeather

A Glossary of Words used in Holderness (1877) gives the following description for the word Simmon and mentions an associated ghost. ‘Simmon, pounded brick or tiles, used by brick-layers for colouring the mortar. Beating simmon was formerly the hard labour punishment in Beverley Borough Gaol. A phantom, popularly supposed to be the ghost of a prisoner who had committed suicide, and called “Awd Simmon Beeather,” was said to haunt the gaol and appear to the prisoners, which acted usefully as a deterrent to criminals, who dreaded him much more than the confinement and punishment.’